Big Time Wrestling
Altoona, Pa. at the Jaffa Shrine
Report by Dot Net reader William Wellek

The names of the unknown wrestlers were nearly inaudible when the music mixed with the ring announcers microphone and I'm sure some of these names aren't exactly correct.

First off...let's say there was a crowd of maybe 500-600 very enthusiastic people. They were "woooooing" it up and ready to have a good time. This was my first time visiting the Jaffa Shrine and it's certainly old school for sure. It resembles something out of the Beer Hall era and might rival the ECW Arena for that certain "feeling" you can't describe to anybody who has never seen it. The ring announcer let everybody know about the Flair family situation and Reid received the ten ring salute. People were quite respectful for this considering how rowdy they were a few moments earlier.

Now for the advertised no shows...those who failed to appear as advertised on the poster were...Balls Mahoney, Robbie E, Miss Tessmacher or any of the BTW Divas, whoever they may be. It's a pretty long drive from my home in Latrobe, Pa. to Altoona, Pa. when there's that many no shows, guys.

On with the matches...remember...the names are the best my friend and I could decipher.

1. Aaron Solo beat Outlaw Jack Simpson. Solo was outsized by a pretty good margin, but won with a small package. Not a horrible opening match.

2. The Arizona Patriot RJ Brewer and (?) Miles beat Bobby Ocean and Slick Wagner Brown.. Brewer and Miles win by pinfall.

3. The Patriot (couldn't tell who was playing the part this time) beat Italy's Greatest Athlete AJ Mitrano. The Patriot had the kids on his side and was passing out some American flags and got a great reception. The Patriot won by pin and Mitrano crawled the entire way back to the dressing room. I think Bruno might have something to say about that Italy's Greatest Athlete bit, don't you think?

4. Tommy Dreamer, Axl Rotten and Shane Douglas beat the team of Pretty Ugly and Luccio (?). Douglas was unadvertised. We saw the team of Pretty Ugly in the hallway during intermission and asked them the name of their partner and they didn't even know. I don't know if it was Pretty or Ugly who said he thought the guy's name was Brandon The Mohawk. Anyways, it was the match was billed as an Altoona Street Fight and honestly...there wasn't much going on with that stipulation and the ECW Originals won the match and sent the show into intermission.

Kevin Nash took pictures in the ring for $20 a shot and made quite the pocket change and stretched out intermission to over a half an hour.

5. Davey Jonx beat Chonx and Jimmy Lipps (?) in what probably turned out to be the match of the night. Davey with the pin after fifteen minutes or so. The guys worked pretty hard and tried to get the crowd back into the show after the long intermission.

6. Hacksaw Jim Duggan beat Mr. TA. TA gave a little old fashioned mic work where if the crowd got on his bad side that he'd have them arrested. Not bad for what the show was. Hacksaw with the three point stance and tackle for the pin. He gave his 2x4 to a young kid after the match was over. Nothing like giving a young kid something like that to swing around in a crowd. On the other hand, he'll probably have it buried with him some eighty years from now. Can you imagine getting a Hacksaw Jim Duggan 2x4 at that age?

7. BTW Champion Flex Armstrong and Kevin Nash defeated The Delfonzo Brothers. Nash spent some considerable time in the ring to my surprise and the crowd got a pretty decent match to end the show with. Nash with the power bomb to one of the brothers to end the night.

Notes: The crowd seemed to enjoy the show despite the lack of advertised wrestlers and the major disappointment of the Flair tragedy. The announcer assured us that the next BTW date would be announced in the next few weeks and that Ric Flair would be part of the proceedings.

I didn't get to the Jaffa Shrine early enough to participate in any of the meet and greets, but a lot of the guys were in a side room selling and signing stuff and there didn't seem to be a lack of buyers.

Overall...not a bad show for a $15 general admission ticket. Give these guys a shot and you might have a good time.